SAFe is an online, freely revealed knowledge base of proven, integrated success patterns for implementing Lean-Agile development at enterprise scale.

— SAFe authors

What’s New in SAFe 4.0 Abstract

SAFe version 4.0 is a major milestone for the framework. It incorporates learning from all prior releases—including the SAFe for Lean Systems Engineering Prototype and Preview branch—into a single, more scalable and more modular framework. It supports both software and systems development, from the modest scale of well under 100 practitioners to Solutions that require thousands of people to create and maintain. To better reflect the breadth of new content, we’ve even renamed it: SAFe 4.0 forLean Software and Systems Engineering. Here’s a brief overview of SAFe 4.0:

Value Stream – Guidance for those building the world’s largest software and systems: The Value Stream-level includes Solution Intent, Solution Management, Engineering and Architecture, Agile Customer and Supplier relationships, and Value Stream Coordination.

Program – Description of Agile Release Trains, teams of Agile Teams that build solution Capabilities and subsystems. ARTs align teams to a common mission, provide architectural and User Experience governance, facilitate flow, and provide objective evidence of progress and fitness for purpose.

Team – SAFe teams are self-organizing, self-managing, and cross-functional. SAFe teams apply Scrum, XP, and Kanban, or a hybrid of their choosing. They deliver valuable, tested, and working software and systems every two weeks.

In addition, SAFe includes extensive guidance articles, case studies, links to service providers, free posters and presentations, a glossary of key terms, and more.

Details

SAFe 4.0 incorporates learning from all prior releases—including the SAFe for Lean System Engineering development and preview branches—into a single, more scalable and more modular framework. SAFe now supports both software and systems development. To address the broader set of concerns, it even has a new name: SAFe 4.0 for Lean Software and Systems Engineering. Below is a summary of the major content changes to SAFe:

SAFe now supports both software and systems development

There is a new Value Stream Level, including new roles, activities, and artifacts for those building the largest systems

The Big Picture is simpler and lighter weight, yet it expands to handle the needs of large value streams and complex system development

The new “spanning palette” carries roles and artifacts applicable to multiple levels.

The Big Picture has the ability to expand or collapse to three or four levels as shown in Figure 1 below. The default view is the new, and simpler, three-level version (3-Level SAFe). 3-Level SAFe is largely backwards compatible with SAFe 3.0. With one click, it expands to four levels (4-Level SAFe) to handle the most demanding needs of large value streams and complex systems development.

Program

The enhanced Program Level describes Agile Release Trains, teams of Agile Teams that build solution capabilities and subsystems. ARTs align teams to a common mission, provide architectural and User Experience governance, facilitate flow, and provide objective evidence of progress and fitness for purpose. A program level ART is shown in Figure 5.

Team

SAFe teams are self-organizing, self-managing, and cross-functional. With Version 4.0, SAFe teams have a choice of methods. They can apply Scrum, along with XP practices, and/or Kanban. They deliver valuable, tested, and working software and systems every two weeks. This is illustrated in Figure 6.